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14.11.2024

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Niina Hiltunen: Jäätyneitä ääniä -teoksen yksityiskohta. Eri sinisen sävyjä puisina päreinä. Image Niina Hiltunen
The Craft Museum of Finland’s exhibition year 2025 presents a fresh perspective on design, art, and the diverse expressions of craftsmanship.

Throughout the year, exhibition content enriches and challenges visitors to see handicraft from new angles. The exhibitions invite audiences to engage in discussions about the renewal of Finnish design and crafts, consider the transmission of cultural heritage across generations and borders, and showcase both new craftsmanship and highlights from the museum’s collections. Themes of making by hand, materials, surfaces, and design stand out in exhibitions where visitors of all kinds can explore the world of craftsmanship up close.

One of the year’s highlights will be the fully renewed permanent exhibitions opening in June 2025, offering a multi-sensory experience of Finnish craftmanship from surprising perspectives. The permanent exhibition, which delves into the tradition of Finnish handcrafting, features touching crafts and stories of handmade Finnish life from generations past to the present. It integrates skill, materials, ideas, and sustainable living perspectives into a cohesive ensemble that reveals some secrets of Finnish culture. Another permanent exhibition will highlight Finnish folk costume traditions and craftsmanship as seen in today’s national costumes.

The exhibition year begins with a unique, tactile exhibition, On senses, from January 11 to April 27, 2025. Here, crafts and art meet through various materials and textures. Created in collaboration with the artists of Artists O, the works are designed to be touched. Glass, wood, textiles, and recycled materials invite visitors to explore the diversity of craft art with all senses. This exhibition offers new experiences for everyone eager to explore the pieces more closely.

The museum’s summer season main exhibition, Rya rug. Now., from May 10 to August 31, 2025, challenges traditional ideas of rya rug-making and presents rya rug art of the 2020s. This exhibition showcases modern works by about twenty Finnish and Finland-based artists and artisans, expanding the concept of ryas and offering new perspectives on their use and significance. It features innovative techniques and a variety of products, from rugs to jewelry and seating.

The main exhibitions for the year conclude with designer Markku Piri’s anniversary exhibition, PIRI BLUE and Other Colours, from September 13 to December 7, 2025. This exhibition offers a comprehensive look at the Finnish designer’s career and his mastery of various materials. The museum’s collection includes an extensive selection of Piri’s works, reflecting his wide-ranging career and numerous collaborations. The exhibition brings together Piri’s vibrant and bold works, inspiring all visitors.

Alongside the main exhibitions, smaller yet captivating exhibitions provide international perspectives on craftsmanship and culture and showcase the versatility of different materials. In the National Costume Center’s Alley gallery, the beginning of the year is dedicated to the world of woven bands with the Tilda and Technology exhibition running until March 30, 2025. The Traditions Across Borders exhibition, from April 4 to October 5, 2025, combines traditional handicraft and national costumes from Finland, Estonia, and Latvia through photographs and accessories. The Stiffened Silk Caps in National Costumes exhibition from October 10, 2025, to March 1, 2026, highlights the ornate beauty of West Finnish national costume headdresses.

Throughout 2025, the museum will also feature several sales exhibitions in the Window Gallery, complementing the museum shop. Playful Glass by Jenni Sorsa will run from January 11 to March 2, 2025, followed by Nuppu Print Company from March 8 to May 18, 2025, showcasing their signature floral-themed products. The summer sales exhibition Handcrafted Summer from May 23 to August 24, 2025, will offer a selection of items by artisans from across Finland. In the autumn, the Window Gallery will feature raku ceramics by Anitta Asunta-Plane in Reflets d’automne exhibition from August 30 to November 9, 2025, and the year concludes with the museum’s annual Museum’s Little Christmas Shop from November 15 to December 31, 2025.

Showroom exhibitions offer a look into various crafts year-round, covering topics from craft education and design to the secrets of bookbinding and miniature painting, wall textiles, and modern jewelry. These exhibitions can be viewed free of charge in the display windows at Kilpisenkatu 12.

Exhibition calendar 2025 in the Craft Museum of Finland

Main exhibitions
11.1.‒27.4.2025 On Senses – Artists O 
10.5.‒31.8.2025 Rya rug. Now.  
13.9.‒7.12.2025 The PIRI BLUE and Other Colours 

Alley Gallery
18.10.2024–30.3.2025 Tilda and Technology – garters with seven pattern threads
4.4.‒5.10.2025 Traditions across borders  
10.10.2025‒1.3.2026 Stiffened Silk Caps in National Costumes

Window Gallery
11.1.‒2.3.2025 Playful Glass - Jenni Sorsa
8.3.‒18.5.2025 Nuppu Print Company
23.5.‒24.8.2025 Handcrafted Summer – Finnish craft for summer
30.8.‒9.11.2025 Reflets d’automne – Anitta Asunta-Plane
15.11.‒31.12.2025 Museum’s Little Christmas Shop

Showroom
3.12.2024–2.2.2025 My life's threads - master crafts exhibition 
4.2.‒30.3.2025 Annual Exhibition of Materia Association 
1.4.‒25.5.2025 Bookbinding world – Espoo Bookbinders' Association
27.5.‒20.7.2025 Jyväskylä School of Craft and Design, Taito Central Finland Association  
22.7.-14.9.2025 Jonna Kantor  
16.9.-9.11.2025 Erkka Marttio  
11.11.2025-4.1.2026 Lappeenranta Jewelry Art Association